Newer Drives...
Section 1B - Hard Drive Information
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1. Partitions on Dual Hard Drives
2. Cluster Sizes for FAT 16/32, NTFS
3. How Megabytes are Figured
4. Western Digital Drive Jumpers
5. Master Boot Record Explained
6. Hard Drive Transfer Speeds
7. Hard Drive Cables
8. Resetting the Boot Sector to Zero
9. Hard Drive Spins Up-Down-Up-Down
10. LBA, EIDE, ATA Explanations
11. SCSI Information
12. Current Western Digital Drives
13. Turning on the Ultra DMA-66 of your new WD Hard Drive
14. Link
to "200 Ways to Revive Your Hard Drive"
15. How to use Western Digital's Data Life Guard Tools to upgrade to a
bigger drive
Subject: Aligning Dual Hard Drives
If you are installing multiple hard drives, then this is for you.
As an example, lets say you have two 40 meg hard drives that you
have partition into four 20 meg drives. If you format each drive
so that the first partition is a PRIMARY DOS, then the drives will
appear:
C: first partition, first drive
D: first partition, second drive
E: second partition, first drive
F: second partition, second drive
However, if you format both partition on the second drive as
LOGICAL, then this is how the drives will appear:
C: first partition, first drive
D: second partition, first drive
E: first partition, second drive
F: second partition, second drive
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Subject: Cluster Size/Partition Size/FAT Type
From: Paul Kreuger, updated from MSCE Class
CLUSTER ALLOCATION
Sectors
Partition Size Cluster per
FAT Type
Size Cluster
0-8 MB 2KB
FAT-12 (pre 3.0 DOS)
8-16 MB
4KB
FAT-12
0-32 MB 512K
1
FAT-16
33-64 MB
1KB 2
FAT-16
65-127 MB 2KB 4
FAT-16
128-255 MB 4KB 8
FAT-16
256-511 MB
8KB 16
FAT-16
512-1023 MB 16KB
32 FAT-16
1024-2047 MB 32KB
64 FAT-16
2048-4095 MB 64KB
128 FAT-16
2048-8191 MB 4KB
FAT-32 (WIN 95/98 only)
8192-16,383 MB 8KB
FAT-32 (WIN 95/98 only)
16,384-32,769 MB 16KB
FAT-32 (WIN 95/98 only)
>32,769 MB 32KB
FAT-32 (WIN 95/98 only)
0-512 MB
512K 1
NTFS
513-1024 MB
1KB 2
NTFS
1025-2048 MB 2KB
4 NTFS
2049-4096 MB 4KB
8 NTFS
4097-8192 MB 8KB
16 NTFS
8193-16,384 MB 16KB
32 NTFS
16,385-32,768 MB 32KB
64 NTFS
>32,769 MB 64KB
128 NTFS
KB= 1,024 bytes
MB= 1,048,576 bytes
GB= 1,073,741,824 bytes
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Subject: Those missing Megabytes
Why is it that every time you format a hard drive, you usually
end up with less megabytes that the drive is rated for?
Let's take the case of the 528 hard drive (and WD 540 under
normal DOS conditions). You set CMOS for 1024 cylinders, 16
heads, and 63 sectors. All DOS disks use 512 bytes per sector,
so the math turns out to be 1024 x 16 x 63 x 512 = 528,482,304
bytes.
But remember, a million bytes isn't a megabyte, you have to
divide by 1,048,578, yielding just 504 megabytes.
The problem gets worse with larger drives, you lose about 7%
reduction in advertised capacity.
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Subject: Western Digital Hard Drive Jumpers
Older Drives.....
Newer Drives...
Subject: MBR as explained by the Hard Drive God, James
Macfarlane...
The Master Boot Record is located on Side 0, Cylinder O, Sector 1
(there is no sector zero) of the hard drive. The MBR contains
the information on how the drive is configured, the partition
table, including primary and extended partitions and which
primary partition is active. Also contained in the MBR is what OS you used to format the
drive, it's logical organization (FAT or FAT32, or NTFS), and the
boot record and the disk's physical organization (number of
sectors per track and number of heads).
Once the POST (Power-On System Test) completes BIOS will check
to see if there is a floppy in the floppy drive (if BIOS is
configured to look), if not it looks for the MBR on the first
hard drive.
The MBR is loaded into RAM, and BIOS turns over control of the
boot process to the Master Boot Record.
The MBR will load and run what is on sector 1 of the track
pointed to by the MBR of the Active drive, also called the
bootable (DOS) or system partition (NTFS). This first track of
the partition contains the Boot Record for this partition, the
boot files, and the FAT (File Allocation Table) and the backup
FAT copy.
In the case of DOS, this table points to the first file in the
FAT which should be io.sys. In the case of NT this is the area
that is taken over by the NTLDR file which loads the menu located
in BOOT.INI.
Should you choose the old DOS system selection (or Windows 95/98
- still DOS based) then NTLDR will load the old DOS partition
information into RAM from a file called BOOTSECT.DOS and load
those operating files.
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Subject: HD Transfer Speeds
(Please note, you MUST have a controller or interface that has an equal to or
greater rating than the hard drive if you want maximum transfer rate. If
you hook a 300 Mb SATA drive to a 150 Interface, the transfer rate will drop to
150).
Assuming all controllers are 1:1 Interleave;
MFM 5 Mbits per second
RLL 7.5 Mbits per second
ESDI 10-15 Mbits per second
SCSI 32 Mbits per second (large files are fast, smaller files
or data base work are much slower
than other drives as data has to
have additional handling by the
SCSI controller)
IDE 7.5-10 Mbits per second
IDE Mode 3 - up to 15 Mbits per second '94
IDE Mode 4 - up to 20 Mbits per second '95
IDE Mode 4 Ultra DMA 33 - up tp 33 Mbits per second '97
IDE Mode 4 Ultra DMA 66 - up tp 66 Mbits per second '99
(requires special ribbon cable)
Western Digital announces end of SCSI manufacturing
IDE Mode 4 Ultra DMA 100 - up tp 100 Mbits per second
'2000
(requires special ribbon cable)
Western Digital's Enhanced IDE Modes (EIDE)
EIDE PIO Mode 1 - 5.2 Mbits per second
EIDE PIO Mode 3 - 11.1 Mbits per second
EIDE PIO Mode 4 - 16.6 Mbits per second
EIDE DMA Mode 2 - 16.6 Mbits per second
EIDE UDMA Mode 2 - 33.3 Mbits per second
EIDE UDMA Mode 4 - 66.6 Mbits per second
NOTE: For more information on different modes see the explanation below.
SATA or Serial ATA (Advanced Technology Attachment)
SERIAL ATA TRANSFER RATES ASSOCIATED WITH TRANSFER MODES
Theoretical Maximum
Transfer
Effective
Mode
Rate
Throughput
Generation 1
1.5Gb/s
150MB/s
Generation 2
3Gb/s
300MB/s
Generation 2 has been re-named to SATA-IO, which must support 3Gbps transfers (some think up to 6Gbps in the near future)
USB 1.0 offers data transfer rates of up to 12 Mbytes/sec, USB 2.0 offers data transfer rates of up to 480 Mbits/sec and
FireWire offers data transfer rates of up to 400 Mbits/sec
Subject: Hard Drive Cable
IDE CONNECTORS: (SEE BELOW FOR MFM)
When looking at a hard drive connector, pin one can be determined by:
Place the hard drive so that the key (missing pin) is in the top row,
pin one is the first pin on the left.
Key
|
v
Pin 1 --> ............ .............
..........................
The number 1 pin on the cable is on the end where the red or blue stripe is
on the ribbion cable.
MFM CABLE CONNECTORS:
Pin 1 should be on the end of the connector that has a slot or keyway
for the connector. A lot of connectors don't have the mating blocking pin
in the connector, so be sure to get it on correctly.
A dual hard drive cable looks very much like a dual floppy drive cable,
but the are different. The twists are on opposite sides of the ribbon
cable. Also drive placement is reversed. On a floppy the first or 'A'
drive goes on the end connector. On a hard drive cable, the first drive,
or 'C' drive goes on the middle connector. If you open the PC, and the
first drive is on the end connector (and cable has a twist in it), then
you know the address on that drive is 2. You will have to change it to
1 if you want to install two hard drives in that unit.
Special Note: If trying to install two drives in a single PC, and everything
seems a little messed up, check the address on the drive. If you don't
know what it's at, and don't have the data sheets, try connecting one drive
at a time, to opposite connectors (the small cables stay the same!). If they
work in the wrong connector, then the address is wrong.
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Subject: Cleaning out the Boot Sector
BYE-BYE, BOOTVIRUS: If you get a boot sector virus your anti-virus
utility can't remove, you can destroy it with an undocumented feature
of DOS's FDISK. Back up your drive. Boot from an uninfected
disk that has the files FDISK.COM and SYS.COM. Enter the commands
FDISK /mbr (to rewrite the master boot record)
and
SYS C: (to make the disk bootable).
if that doesn't work, this will .. .. ..
Cleaning the Boot Sector using DEBUG
This routine will erase the first ten sectors on cylinder 0 which contains
the boot information & the FAT table. A DOS High level format will erase
all data contained in the data area.
DOS Debug :
Step 1: Boot from a DOS bootable diskette in drive A.
Step 2: Insert the DOS diskette with DEBUG.COM into Drive A.
Step 3: Enter the following :
A:> DEBUG [enter]
-A [enter]
MOV AX, 30A [enter] : will write to first 10 sectors
MOV CX, 1 [enter] : start write at sector=1, cylinder=0
MOV DX, 80 [enter] : head=0, drive C:=80, D:=81 etc
MOV BX, 3800 [enter] : BX = 3800
INT 13 [enter] : call BIOS
INT 3 [double enter] : back to DEBUG
-G=100 [enter] : start executing program
-Q [enter] : quit DEBUG
A:>
Removing Disk Manager from the Boot Sector. Drivers usually shipped on a diskette with large capacity hard disks are not compatible with the EIDEMAX LBA drive translation. Some of
these software include Disk Manager and EZ Drive.
WARNING: Use of the following procedures will result in data loss.
Backup any necessary data before proceeding.
Sometimes FDISK cannot delete Disk Manager information from the boot
sector. Follow these steps to remove Disk Manager drivers from the
partition and boot sector:
Backup any necessary data first
Boot to DOS Bootable disk with the FDISK and FORMAT utilities in the
A: Drive. Restore the Boot sector: Type "FDISK /MBR <Enter>"; you
should receive a blank line. Use the DOS installation disks or follow
the steps under "Partition and formatting IDE drive" in the next section.
Optional Methods
The following is Disk Manager's erase boot sector utility below.
Partition and format the drive(s) as normal. Be sure to backup necessary
data before performing this function.
Boot to DOS Bootable disk in the A: Drive
Insert Disk Manager floppy; Type "DM<Enter>" to start Disk Manager
At the Menu, Press "<ALT>-T"
Select "Disk Subsystem Overview"
Press <CTRL><F10>. Answer Yes to Zero the Drive and Remove Disk Manager
For EZ Drive software removal,
Boot to DOS Bootable disk in the A: Drive
Insert EZ Drive floppy; Type "EZSETUP <Enter>" to start EZ Drive
Choose Disable EZ Drive
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Subject: Hard Drives Spin Up-Down-Up-Down
Hard Drives that spin up and then spin down over and over have the
wrong parameters, most likely the number of heads.
Also, some new mother boards will shut down the hard drives after
a preset number of minutes with no accesses. Most default to
one minute. This can be disabled and/or time adjusted in the
BIOS setup.
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Subject: LBA, EIDE, ATA Explanations from Maxtor
Q1:
What is Logical Block Addressing (LBA)?
A:
LBA is a mathematical scheme for addressing sectors, beginning at
cylinder 0, head 0 and sector 1, which is equal to LBA 0. This scheme
linearly maps the drive until the final physical sector is reached. LBA
is efficient because it reduces some system overhead by not having to
convert the OS's LBA to the BIOS CHS and then back to drive LBA.
Q2:
What is CHS?
A:
CHS stands for Cylinders Heads & Sectors, this is the conventional
means for BIOS to communicate to the Drive. CHS has a limitation of
1024 cylinders, 16 heads and 63 sectors per track resulting in a
maximum capacity of 504MB
Q3:
What is IDE/ATA?
A:
Integrated Drive Electronics, IDE, is a storage device where most of
the disk controller is integrated into the disk drive resulting in a
inexpensive product and an easier implementation of firmware. ATA is
simply a set of rules or guidelines that an IDE drive should conform to.
Q4:
What is ATA-2?
A:
ATA-2 is an enhanced version of the ATA standard. It essentially adds
performance and features like: intelligent identification (IDENTIFY
DRIVE). Lists the drives abilities and sets operating characteristics,
faster transfer rates for both PIO and DMA, and improves drive
compatibility.
Q5:
What is ATA-3?
A;
Slated for 1996, still in draft form, this is the first step towards the idea
of revising ATA on a yearly basis to keep it alive. Look for: non-disk
device support, power features, portability and password protection just
to name a few.
Q6:
What is Enhanced-IDE (EIDE) and Fast-ATA?
A:
EIDE is Western Digital's newest marketing program. EIDE is divided
into two parts:
Software; the Enhanced BIOS Specification that overcomes
the 504MB limitation.
Hardware; drives that conform to the ATA-2 and ATA-PI
Standards.
Fast-ATA, EIDE's counterpart, is driven by Seagate and Quantum and
leans conservatively towards ATA-2.
Q7:
What are the main features of EIDE?
A:
These are the main features:
Faster transfer modes: PIO modes 3-4 and DMA mode 2
Multiple Read/Write commands
LBA mode, translation for drives larger than 504MB
Four devices on the ATA controller (secondary port)
CD ROM and Tape support (ATAPI)
Q8:
Is ATA-2 compatible with older IDE drives?
A:
Older drives will work with newer enhanced drives but do not use the
enhanced features. This includes faster data transfer rates and, even
more important, the Identify Drive command. Some controller cards
will support separate transfer timings.
Q9:
Is ATA-2 compatible with older IDE controller card?
A:
EIDE drives are backwards compatible with non-EIDE (standard)
controller cards, granted because your card does not support EIDE,
your drive will perform as a standard drive.
Q10:
What is ATA-PI?
A:
AT Attachment Packet Interface (ATA-PI) is a proposed standard
implementing SCSI like devices on the ATA bus. Devices like
CD-ROM's, tape drives and other removable media. The main
advantage of ATAPI is that it's inexpensive and easy to implement in
current systems. The disadvantage is that it requires the use of drivers
for operability.
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Subject: SCSI Info
Call it scuzzy, but have some respect - Still kicking after a
decade on the desktop, SCSI remains interface to beat.
By Michael CHEEK Gov't Computer News Staff - June 16, 1997
SCSI missed the boat when it came to nifty naming. Users refer
to the Small Computer System Interface as "scuzzy," though in
reality it's anything but.
Upcoming interfaces such as the Universal Serial Bus could
displace SCSI on the desktop before long, but SCSI has a strong
foothold with users of high-end workstations and servers. It's
the preferred way to connect scanners and removable-media drives.
Why? Because SCSI's 10-megabyte/sector-faster access rates make
the speediest parallel port seem pokey at only 2 megabytes/sec.
But trying to order SCSI products can stump a wizard. Call a
reseller to ask about SCSI adapter cards and you'll get: "Is that
SCSI-I, -2 or -3? Fast? Wide? Or Fast and Wide? Or Ultra?
UltraWide? What about connectors_50-pin Centronics, 50-pin mini,
25-pin standard or 68pin?"
To avoid SCSI insanity, remember that the American National
Standards Institute has adopted only two SCSI standards at this
time: SCSI-1 and SCSI-2. A third standard is in the works, and
several products already follow SCSI-3 specifications. SCSI-2 is
the connection you'll see most often today.
Scuzzy past
SCSI-1 became an industry standard in 1986. Only ancient PC
products still have its 5-megabyte/sec, 25-pin connector, which
looks like a parallel cable.
SCSI-2 became official in 1994, with 50 pins but still the
5-megabyte/sec speed. Subsets of that standard also appeared:
Fast, Wide and Fast-Wide. This is where SCSI names start getting
a little muddy.
Fast SCSI doubles SCSI-2's transfer speed to 10 megabytes/sec
through a 50-pin connection, known as mini 50-pin or high-density
50pin. Wide SCSI doubles the data path of basic SCSI-2 to
transfer 10 megabytes/sec with a 68-pin adapter. Combine Fast and
Wide and you get a Fast-Wide SCSI-2 adapter that can
Each SCSI device on a chain needs an address, from O to 7.
Address 7 is reserved for the adapter card, and a SCSI hard drive
generally is O or 6. So use 1 to 5 for other devices. Up to seven
SCSI2 devices can be linked, but usually no more than four are.
Ultra is a term that applies to the emerging SCSI-3 standard,
which may double the speed yet again. An Ultra SCSI-3 connection
bursts up to 20 megabytes/sec over its 50 wires. UltraWide SCSI-3
sends 40 megabytes/sec over its 68-connection cable. Fast Ultra
and Fast UltraWide do not exist at least not yet.
These speeds show why SCSI is popular for internal hard drives
and other storage devices. The Enhanced Integrated Device
Electronics (EIDE) interface on many systems delivers only 13
megabytes/sec much slower than most SCSI-2 and all SCSI3
connections.
SCSI, unlike EIDE, lets you daisy chain several devices
together. Most SCSI devices have an auto-termination feature to
tell the adapter where the chain ends.
SCSI-I, Fast SCSI-2 and Ultra SCSI-3 each allow eight device
addresses, numbered O through 7. Because the SCSI adapter card
usually uses address 7, and address 0 or 6 is for bootable SCSI
hard drives, avoid those three addresses when installing your new
SCSI peripheral.
You can attach devices safely at addresses 1 through 5, linking
from one to another without adding another SCSI adapter card.
Wide SCSI2, Fast-Wide SCSI-2 and UltraWide SCSI-3 allow 16
addresses.
By the way, all these different SCSI flavors are
backward-compatible. If you have an UltraWide SCSI-3 adapter
card, find the right cable and you can connect to a Fast SCSI-2
device.
USB looks like a strong contender to succeed SCSI in some
areas. At 1.5 megabytes/sec, it transfers more slowly, but it can
daisychain up to 128 devices - far more than SCSI.
USB won't gain much popularity for storage devices except
perhaps tape backups. But don't discount it - its data speeds are
comparable to a T1 Internet connection. You'll find USB popping
up on scanners, modems, car eras, printers and monitors.
A likelier successor to SCSI is the 50 megabyte/sec FireWire
(also known by its Institute of Electric and Electronic Engineers
number, 1364). Faster and thinner than SCSI, FireWire needs only
six wires - two twisted pairs, a power and a ground - to connect
up to 63 devices.
A possibly faster SCSI successor for high-end storage devices
is Serial Systems Architecture (SSA which may be
backward-compatible with SCSI. It uses a thinner cable, plugs in
up to 127 devices and gives throughput of 80 megabytes/sec or
faster.
USB is just now emerging in device FireWire isn't expected to
take hold until 1999, and SSA is only starting to be talk, about. So
for a while, SCSI rules. If there's SCSI-4, it might slim down
enough to Compete with the thinner cables and faster speeds of
the other emerging interfaces.
Subject: Western Digital Models from Paul Krueger Updated: March 2000
Caution: WD Drives with Model Numbers ending in "AA" and manufactured between Aug 27, 1999 and Sept 24, 1999, may have a defective controller chip. Go to Western Digital and download a 66K test program to check if you have this chip. Those that fail the test should be returned for repair.
Note: 5400 RPM - Model number ends in AA, 7200 RPM - Model numbers ends in BA
Current Caviar EIDE Hard Drives. These are all 5400 RPM, PIO Mode 4 UDMA-66
WD64AA 6.4
GB
WD84AA 8.4
WD102AA 10.2
WD136AA 13.6
WD153AA 15.3
WD172AA 17.2
WD181AA 18.1
WD205AA 20.5
WD272AA 27.2
WD307AA 30.7
Current Caviar EIDE Hard Drives. These are all 7200 RPM, PIO Mode 4 UDMA-66
WD102BA 10.2 GB
WD136BA 13.6
WD153BA 15.3
WD205BA 20.5
ALL CURRENT models ending in AA or BA ( 5400 RPM & 7200 RPM respectively) have 2 MB of cache or "Buffer Size" as Western Digital now calls it (up from 128k).
NON-Current (no longer in Production) Western Digital Drives
Rotational
Capacity Speed Interface
AC11000 1.0 GB 5400 Mode 4 PIO / Mode 2 DMA AC21000 1.0 GB 5400 Mode 4 PIO / Mode 2 DMA AC31000 1.0 GB 5400 Mode 3 PIO / Mode 1 DMA AC11200 1.2 GB 5400 Mode 4 PIO / Mode 2 UDMA AC21200 1.2 GB 5400 Mode 4 PIO / Mode 2 DMA AC31200 1.2 GB 5400 Mode 3 PIO / Mode 1 DMA AC11600 1.6 GB 5400 Mode 4 PIO / Mode 2 UDMA AC21600 1.6 GB 5400 Mode 4 PIO / Mode 2 UDMA AC31600 1.6 GB 5400 Mode 4 PIO / Mode 2 DMA AC22000 2.0 GB 5400 Mode 4 PIO / Mode 2 UDMA AC12100 2.1 GB 5400 Mode 4 PIO / Mode 2 UDMA AC22100 2.1 GB 5400 Mode 4 PIO / Mode 2 UDMA AC32100 2.1 GB 5400 Mode 4 PIO / Mode 2 DMA AC12500 2.5 GB 5400 Mode 4 PIO / Mode 2 UDMA AC22500 2.5 GB 5400 Mode 4 PIO / Mode 2 UDMA AC32500 2.5 GB 5400 Mode 4 PIO / Mode 2 DMA AC33100 3.1 GB 5400 Mode 4 PIO / Mode 2 DMA AC23200 3.2 GB 5400 Mode 4 PIO / Mode 2 UDMA AC33200 3.2 GB 5400 Mode 4 PIO / Mode 2 UDMA AC34000 4.0 GB 5400 Mode 4 PIO / Mode 2 UDMA AC14300 4.3 GB 5400 Mode 4 PIO / Mode 4 UATA AC24300 4.3 GB 5400 Mode 4 PIO / Mode 2 UDMA AC34300 4.3 GB 5400 Mode 4 PIO / Mode 2 UDMA AC35100 5.1 GB 5400 Mode 4 PIO / Mode 2 UDMA AC26400 6.4 GB 5400 Mode 4 PIO / Mode 2 UATA AC36400 6.4 GB 5400 Mode 4 PIO / Mode 2 UDMA WD68AARTL 6.8 GB 5400 Mode 4 PIO / Mode 2 UATA AC28400 8.4 GB 5400 Mode 4 PIO / Mode 2 UATA AC38400 8.4 GB 5400 Mode 4 PIO / Mode 2 UDMA AC29100 9.1 GB 7200 Mode 4 PIO / Mode 4 UATA 9100RTL 9.1 GB 7200 Mode 4 PIO / Mode 4 UATA AC310100 10.1 GB 5400 Mode 4 PIO / Mode 2 UATA AC310200 10.2 GB 5400 Mode 4 PIO / Mode 4 UATA AC313000 13.0 GB 5400 Mode 4 PIO / Mode 4 UATA AC418000 18.0 GB 7200 Mode 4 PIO / Mode 4 UATA AC420400 20.4 GB 5400 Mode 4 PIO / Mode 4 UATA
Expert Non-Current EIDE Hard Drive Specifications
WD102BA 10.2 GB 7200 Mode 4 PIO / Mode 4 UDMA WD136BA 13.6 GB 7200 Mode 4 PIO / Mode 4 UDMA WD205BA 20.5 GB 7200 Mode 4 PIO / Mode 4 UDMA WD273BA 27.3 GB 7200 Mode 4 PIO / Mode 4 UDMA
IDE = 3YR, 5200 RPM
IDE = 3YR, 7200 RPM
SCSI = 5YR, 7200 RPM
Subject: Turning on the Ultra DMA-66 of your new WD Hard Drive
A lesson from Paul Kreuger....
OK, so you've drop big bucks and purchased a Western Digital Ultra DMA-66 Hard Drive and a fancy new mother board that handles these high speed monsters. You've hooked it up with that required 80-pin cable and you think you're getting that high speed data transfer rate, right?
WRONG! Don't feel bad, I did the same thing. You have to do two things before it works at high speed. Both the drive and Windows98 are set up to handle a max rate of 33 megabits by default. Here's the two steps you have to do to make it scream...
In Windows go to the Device Manager Listing in the System Properties. Expand the Disk Drives, then right click on the Generic IDE DISK Type xx. Choose the Setting Tab, check the DMA box. You will get a strong notice from Windows, but I checked it anyway.
Next, jump on the web and get the Hard Drive Utility from Western Digital that enables it to run at high speed. Run it from a floppy. Follow the instructions.
Now watch that monster scream!
Subject: How to use Western Digital's "Data Life Guard Tools" to copy an old hard drive to a new larger one. (note: new drive must be a Western Digital Drive).
0. Make sure you have a current backup of your important data files. (Just incase you missed it, this step come BEFORE #1).
********** Boot Floppy **********
1. Create a bootable floppy - Any version of Windows 9x. 2. Copy the Data Life Guard files to the new bootable floppy.
********** Hardware **********
3. If the new drive is not partitioned and formatted, suggest you disconnect your current drive, and connect the new drive to the old cable. This way you can't accidently format your current drive, lose all your data, and be forced to use that backup data you keep current.
4. Turn on the PC, and adjust the BIOS for the new drive. Instead of using the "auto" function, suggest you detect the drive and lock the values into the "user" setting. Make sure you use the "LBA" setting. Save and exit. If you don't understand this part, STOP and get help.
5. Re-boot the computer using the floppy. Once booted and at the DOS prompt, ENTer "DLG". This will take you to the DLG Menu.
6. Hit RETurn twice to get through the licencing crap and to the real menu.
7. To Partition and Format the drive, pick the first option, "Fully Automatic Install". Answer the question and in just seconds your new drive will be formatted to your needs. If you have an older computer it may ask you if you want to install "EZ BIOS" which lets you see the entire drive. Depending on the age of your PC this will probably work. If not, come back to this menu to uninstall EZ BIOS, and then partition the drive. Older systems usually can only have 2 gig partitions, with a maximum drive size of 8.4 Gigs. Sometimes you can use a bigger drive, but it will only format 4 each 2 gig partitions.
8. Once formatted, exit the program. Re-boot the computer, go into the BIOS and set the Master and Slave to "Auto". Save, exit, and power down.
********* Copying Files *********
9. Hook up both drives. Set the jumpers to Master and Slave. It doesn't matter which drive is the new one or the old one.
10. Re-boot the PC using the floppy.
11. Once booted and at the DOS prompt, ENTer "DLG". This will take you to the DLG Menu.
12. Hit RETurn twice to get through the licencing crap and to the real menu.
13. This time, pick the second option. "Advanced Options"
14. Choose "Copy the entire partition"
15. Choose the "Source Drive". Put on your glasses and carefully read the screen. It will display all of the available partitions, showing size AND THE AMOUNT OF DATA ON EACH DRIVE. You want to pick the drive with all of the files. If you have any doubts, STOP AND GET HELP!
16. Choose the "Destination Drive". Should be the first partition on the new drive. It should show NO DATA. If there is data on this drive, it will display the first 3 or 4 files.
17. Next, choose "YES", copy the data.
18. Once copied, back out of the program, power off the system.
Remove your old drive, label it with today's date, and set it aside for at least a month as your data backup incase the new drive takes a dump.
19. Set the new drive jumpers as a STAND ALONE. Mount the drive, connect the cables, and fire the sucker up. It should boot and look just like it always did.
If not call 1-800-I'm Screwed, and pay big bucks for someone like me to come bail your ass out of the hole you've dug. Good luck!